Goodbye Ranma
by ceroxon
Summary: Ranma and Ryouga are fighting, and it's not going well for Ranma. Akane rushes to his side, just in time to be there when Ryouga delivers the final blow. As he dies, he says goodbye.
1. Chapter 1

Not My fanfic, I found it on an old website. I post it with the author commentary.

DARK.

POSTER'S NOTE

The following story is being posted by me, through my account since the author is an old friend of mine. We have traveled the world together and this is the least I can do. If you have any problems with the content below, feel free to harass me, I'll most likely forward it to the author. Any similarities between real events in the real world are purely accidental. Thanks!

It's Time to Say Good-bye

A Ranma 1/2 story  
Steven Scougall  
/

A blood curdling scream echoes through the school, rattling the glass of the windows and the doors, echoing back and forth through the hallways. Everyone in class flinches. Pens and pencils clatter to the floor, and the piece of chalk the teacher is writing with snaps in two and a long white mark scrapes the blackboard obscenely.

That couldn't have been... I look over at Ranma's empty desk. That couldn't have been Ranma. Could it? Nothing scares him, well, nothing except for cats. But that wasn't screaming in fear, that was a scream of pain.

Already half the class is by the window, trying to see who screamed so horribly. Ukyo hurries over to join them in looking for an answer to the scream. Barely a second has passed before she gasps in horror. "It's Ranma and Ryoga! Fighting again, and Ranma looks really hurt!"

"What?" I jump up from my desk and run to the window, looking out. There, on the gym field are Ranma and Ryoga, in the middle of one of their many fights. Ranma is on all fours on the ground, breathing heavily. One of his hands is at an unnatural angle, obviously broken. One leg dangles uselessly to the ground, also broken. Covered in cuts, scrapes, gashes and blood, he looks the worst I've ever seen him in any fight, unable to continue. His good leg slips and he falls to the ground.

I look over at Ryoga. Yes, he's hurt as well, but not nearly as much. What's going on? Normally it's the other way around, how come Ryoga is easily defeating Ranma?

"SHI SHI HOU KOU DAN!" roars Ryoga, and his familiar blast of ki energy emanates from his hands and slams into Ranma, sending him flying through the air into the side of the school building. He stays there for a second then falls from the wall to the concrete, face first.

I can't stand it any more. I smash through the third floor window and jump all the way down to the ground, landing heavily. I feel the bones of my legs and feet scrape against each other. I grit my teeth in momentary pain, but they hold, not breaking. Ranma looks up as he hears the window smash and my landing and grunt of exertion. A weary, pained expression stains his features, totally alien to his face. He smiles up at me, and mouths something.

No... he couldn't have said _that_. I stand still in shock, unbelieving.

"Saotome, prepare to DIE!" shouts Ryoga with finality and satisfaction. He jumps up to an impossible height, raises his umbrella high above his head, then descends, slamming his heavy umbrella across Ranma's back. There is a crack, then Ranma's body relaxes, going limp. There is a look fire, of futile struggling resistance in his eyes, they look at me sadly, and he mouths the words "Good-bye, Akane."

Then his eyes go vacant and his head relaxes limply to the hard concrete.

"NOOOOO!" comes my horrified scream. This can't be happening, he can't be dead! That crack couldn't have been his spine, it must have been, had to have been something else. I desperately want it to have been something else.

But there's nothing else it could have been.

Behind me I can hear surprised shouts, and Nabiki running towards me. But I do not listen to any of it, my gaze is transfixed with the sight of Ranma lying still on the ground.

Nabiki arrives beside me, and takes one look at his still body, covered with injuries. At his eyes, vacant and lifeless. I hear her gasp of horror.

"Ranma, wake up!" I shout. Ignoring Nabiki, I run forwards. To where Ranma lies still, more still then I can ever remember. Around me people are shouting, crying out, to me and to each other. I ignore it. All that matters is Ranma.

I crouch down to him and shake him violently. "Wake up you idiot!" I shake harder, strong enough to wake the dead - I savagely cut back on that thought, but stop shaking him. "No! You can't be dead! Wake up!" I stare down at his blood stained face, the blood dripping from his mouth, the bruises, the cuts and the gashes. He's had worse before, much worse. He's always survived, please let him live this time.

His face blurs, and a raindrop falls onto it. No, that wasn't a raindrop, that was me, the first of my tears. I try to blink them away but the pain is too great, I never thought he could die like this. I find myself reaching down and hugging him hard, my eyes clamped shut to ward off the truth, babbling "you can't be dead, wake up, Ranma, please, wake up," over and over.

"Akane," comes Nabiki's strained voice. "Let it go. He's gone."

I look up to see my sister standing over me, a look of sadness on her face. She reaches her hand down to me. "Come on, Akane, let it go."

But not even Kasumi could calm me now, I'm beyond all calm. A distant part of myself looks on, telling me that I'm hysterical, I should calm down and realise the truth, be rational and let it be. But to no avail, he's dead and I can't change it and I never even said good-bye... I drop Ranma's body, and stare at him. He looks so peaceful, as if all his troubles are finally over. I take Nabiki's offered hand and let her help me up.

"Akane?" comes a hesitant, confused voice. The voice I never want to hear again. I turn from Nabiki and turn to face Ryoga. 

"Why are you so - ?"

"You..." I growl. "You killed Ranma! I hate you! Get away from me and never come back!"

"But... you loved him?" he asks, incomprehension covering his face. "I thought you both hated..." His voice trails off.

"Loved him or not, he was still a friend! And then you killed him, you pig!" He flinches, despair flooding his face as he finally accepts the truth that was staring in our faces all this time but were too blind to see. "You killed him and now he's gone forever! Don't you know what it means when someone dies?"

He opens his mouth to speak, but there is nothing for him to say. He just stares at me for a while, then looks down at the dead body of Ranma. He prods it with his toe, and he stares at the still body with a strange look on his face. Something like incomprehension creases his face, and he bends down to prod Ranma more forcefully with his fingers. Finally he places his mouth over Ranma's ear and shouts "Are you dead or what?"

Ranma stays where he fell, answering with the silence of the dead.

Ryoga slowly bends down over Ranma and turns him over to his ravaged back, and feels his heart. His eyes droop, he faces Ranma's empty face and he speaks, I can see his mouth moving but his voice is so low I can't hear a word he says. He takes off a bandanna - no, all the bandannas on his head, and places Ranma's hands over them, and says something more. He closes the horribly staring eyes.

Finally he looks back up. His eyes are so different, I've never seen him look like this. I stare into them, into their haunted look, and I can see images of hate, of despair, of past anger. But most prominent is an image, a look, of great loss.

"What was all that?" I ask, angry and curious.

"A prayer of farewell," he says simply. "For the dead."

"And the bandannas?"

"I hope they serve him better in death than they served me in life."

We lock gazes, my glare of anger for his stare of sadness and loss. Finally he looks away and picks up his pack and umbrella, and slots the umbrella under the top straps of the pack.

He glances over at me. "Maybe I don't know enough about death, but I do know what it means to lose somebody dear to you." He picks up the pack and slings it over his shoulders. "Farewell, Akane," he says, his voice strangely tense. "Don't hate me forever. Maybe we shall meet again."

"Farewell, Ryoga," I mutter.

He raises his head and shouts, "Farewell, everyone. I'm leaving, and won't come back again."

I can't believe that one week ago the twenty odd people standing here had enough blood feuds and engagements among each other for fifty people. Their instant reaction upon meeting one another would be to instantly fall to fighting over some real or imagined insult, no matter how small. Sometimes just for being in the way.

But now, they are all silent, all peaceful in each other's presence. Even Shampoo is letting Moose put his arm around her shoulder to comfort her, with her great-grandmother Cologne staring in disapproval but not doing or saying anything.

Around me I can hear people muttering, people crying. I can hear Ranma's mother Nodoka quietly crying into her husband's shoulder, and I can hear Ukyo, all alone, sniffling. Shampoo is speaking hysterically in Chinese, and Mousse is trying to calm her, also in Chinese.

There is one notable absentee, Ryoga. No-one is surprised.

I stare at the gravestone in the ground, beside my mother's grave. Now I've lost two people in my life. My mother - who I can barely remember, she died when I was still small. I try to remember something about her, but... there is nothing. I was so young, I can't even remember the funeral.

Wait, I can remember something. A soothing voice, a gentle smile, running to a family picnic. She holding all three of her daughters together. Is this what's going to happen with my memory of Ranma? Is he going to become nothing but scant fleeting memories? My eyes start tearing. I don't want to forget him.

Kasumi, standing next to me, puts her arm around me, telling me not to worry. She has been so much like a mother, gentle, soothing, always there when I need her. I collapse into her arms, hugging her tightly, suddenly crying like a young child, letting all my bottled feelings go. I held so much back from him, I never even properly talked to him.

"Please, Akane. Calm down, I'm here." Slowly, ever so slowly, my bawling subsides, becoming tears and then just sniffles. Kasumi holds me close and soothes me, patting my back, just like a mother comforting her child.

"I never even said good-bye..."

"Don't worry about it. Wherever he is now, I'm sure he understands."

"But you don't understand! Just before he... he..." I pause, unable to say the word, "he looked over at me and mouthed something." I struggle to remain calm, despite the pain of what I have to say next. While I am silent, Kasumi asks me what he said. "I think he said, 'I'm so sorry, for everything. Good-bye, Akane.' Kasumi!" I cry. "I didn't say anything back!"

"It's time to say good-bye to him now, Akane."

"It's never a good time to say good-bye to anyone."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Like my earlier story, 'The Morning After', I have no idea where this came from. I just started typing away one night, letting everything have free rein and this was the result. I did let a couple of silly jokes get through, but not if they messed up the 'flow' and tone of the story.

I seem to have this tendency for first person immediate present tense narration. Don't ask me why, I just feel it suits these stories better. I will try to get away from this in the future.

In the author's note for 'The Morning After', I mentioned something about a new character in Nerima story. You can be sure that if it ever gets finished it's going to be... well, different. Possibly a bit dark too, that's the way my mind tends to go.

This is truly an international story. It was conceived in Australia, written in South Korea, and edited and posted in France.

One final and strange thing: When I was in Japan, and _before_ I knew anything about Ranma 1/2, I used to call my brother P-chan.  
Weird, ne?

STANDARD THINGS

Send any comments and constructive criticisms to:  
s940... .  
If you think the story is really really bad then tell me why.  
Don't just say "you suck" and leave it at that, I at least want to know how and why. And don't post anything until at least March 1996, for I won't have the account back up and running until then.

\- All the characters and settings in this story are the original creation of Rumiko Takahashi, copyright 1987 - 1995, used here without her permission. Thanks must also go to her for creating the incredibly bizarre Ranma 1/2 world in the first place, giving us all something to remember.

\- Thanks must go to the authors on RAAS for sparking my imagination, and getting me to actually write something.

\- And thanks to Albert for posting this.


	2. Chapter 2

Not My fanfic, I found it on an old website. I post it with the author commentary.

DARK.

/  
Never Say Goodbye

A Ranma 1/2 Story  
By Steve Scougall  
/

I dimly hear Kasumi's voice, next the swish of the curtains. Strong sunlight lances through the suddenly uncovered window and strikes me full in the face, and I wake up the rest of the way, blinking. Looking out the window, seeing the few light wispy clouds and the light blue sky, it looks like another fine day.

And it would be.

But no day can be a fine day, ever again. He's gone, gone forever.

Every day when I wake up I have to remind myself that Ranma isn't with me anymore. I have to remind myself that that part of life is over... but I wish it wasn't. I want him to be back, to be alive...

But nothing can change the fact that Ranma is now dead. Killed by Ryouga oh so long ago, in just another of their silly feuds.

I blankly stare down at my bed sheets, lip trembling and eyes tearing. Every single morning I go through this. I think back to the schoolyard, time running in slow motion, seeing Ryouga's umbrella slowly - ever so slowly - descending onto Ranma's back, hearing the snap, seeing Ranma die right in front of my eyes.

And me not doing anything about it. I could have run forward, shouted something, I could have interrupted their battle sooner. But all I did was stand there, mouth wide open in shock, and watch as Ryouga killed the one I loved - still love.

The tears start, as they do every morning.

I can vaguely hear Kasumi's voice but I don't really listen to it. The mere soothing sound is enough as she puts her arm around my shoulders. My sobbing subsides as she consoles me as if I were a small girl, or her own daughter.

Finally I calm down and merely just hold Kasumi tight, as if Kasumi is protection enough against all the evils of the world.

"Akane," she asks gently, "is it Ranma again?"

"I never told him. I never told him I loved him."

I start choking up again. "Every morning, the same thing. Why, Kasumi? Why is life so ugly?"

"Sometimes, Akane, life is like this. Just let it go. Say good-bye to him, and go on with things. Let it go," she repeats.

I pause. Kasumi has had to live through our mother's death. Surely she felt like this as well. But there was no-one to help her like this - was there? She knows what she's saying, yet...

"I'll never let myself say good-bye to him. It's never a good time to say good-bye."

I slowly drag myself to Furinkan High School, Nabiki and Kasumi walking with me. I find it hard to go, everything seems so pointless and empty now. But stubbornness drags me onwards, keeps me determinedly going.

Nerima is so quiet now. No vengeful fiancees, no angry warriors from the past, they've all gone, in one way or the other. All the people that came here for Ranma have gone back to where they came.

Shampoo and her great-grandmother left for China soon after Ranma's funeral all those months ago. With Ranma dead, Shampoo had no reason to stay in Japan and left for her village in disgrace - she neither married male Ranma nor killed female Ranma. The disgrace served her right. As they left Mousse behind, but that didn't stop him, he continued after Shampoo.

Ukyou also had no more reason to stay and wished to leave the place of so many memories. The last I heard of her, she was going back to Kyoto.

Even Ranma's parents have left Nerima. They had no desire to stay.

They've all left, except me - I can't leave. My home is here. Sometimes I wish we could all go and leave this place behind. But we must stay - our family has always been here and here it stays. I must stay and be reminded by almost anything - the fence Ranma would always run on, the little old lady who would accidentally splash Ranma with water so many times, it all brings so many painful memories back.

"I'll see you two later." Kasumi breaks off from us, waving, leaving for Dr. Toufuu's clinic, where she now helps Toufuu. With Mr. Saotome gone the doctor needed a new assistant. Thankfully he is calm enough now in her presence to be a good doctor.

Dr. Toufuu... I got over him. But can I ever get over Ranma?

As we enter the school's grounds, typically Kunou is standing in the yard. He is holding a red rose in his hand, his bokken in the other. I sigh, he's just so stupidly persistent. He never gives up.

All my anger builds to a point. This... this stupid JERK talks of love when he has no idea what it means. He's never experienced love at all. All he knows is useless obsession. All my rage with the world, with the way it is so ugly and cruel, focuses on Kuno.

"Akane..." warns Nabiki, in a low tone. "Go easy on him. We don't want him dead. You know what death is like and what it means."

"Ah, my fair Akane," he declaims. "Once more you grace me with your presence, with the foul Saotome's -" my anger rises a notch - "hold on you broken."

"I'm warning you Kunou-sempai," I growl, "just leave me alone."

"You are the sun and the moon to me." He lifts his bokken. 

"I would fight with you. And if you lose, I shall allow you to date with me."

"YOU! GET! THIS! INTO! YOUR! THICK! HEAD!" I shout as I repeatedly hit him. "I will NEVER love you! I DESPISE you and your kind and what you've done to me! GO TO HELL!"

As I leave him lying on the ground, battered and bruised, I hear his voice croak out "She is mighty. Worthy indeed of my love."

I turn and kick him into unconsciousness, shouting "BAKA! You have no idea what love IS!"

Nabiki is staring at me and then at Kuno. She kneels down and checks him. "He's still alive. Akane, you have to go easy on him. You don't want to kill him."

"Sometimes I do. Because of someone like him, who thought love could be won by a fight, Ranma DIED and I'll never see him again. I hate Kunou and Ryouga for what they've done to my life, the way they've destroyed it on mere whim."

I kneel before the two graves. My mother's and Ranma's, side by side. The Saotome and Tendou families, together in death. It may never happen in life, now. Ranma was one of the few remaining Saotomes. Our Anything Goes Martial Arts school may be lost forever now.

But family lineage and lost legacies interest me little. All I care for is him. Sometimes when I'm here, by his grave and talking the hurt inside, I think I can feel him again, for just a moment. I feel that wherever he is, if anywhere, he is finally in peace.

"Ranma," I say to the air. "It's me, Akane. I'm here, with you, again."

There is a silence, I silence I have heard before, when Ranma died. The final silence of the dead. The silence that lasts forever and is never broken.

A voice cuts through the air. A voice I will never forget. 

"Excuse me miss, where am - oh... uh, Akane."

"You." I say slowly and deliberately as I turn around. 

"What are you doing here, Ryouga?"

"I'm lost. Again." Bitterness floods his voice and face. "I'm trying to find Akari, she sent me a letter saying she wanted to talk with me." He holds out a faded piece of paper, dated from two months ago. A few days after Ranma's funeral.

A small part of me is constantly amazed at how bad Ryouga is with directions. He's been wandering all of Japan trying to find another part of Tokyo, for two whole months.

He looks past me and sees the two grave markers.

"Is this Ranma's... his grave?"

"Yes," I mutter.

"And the other?"

"My mother's."

He looks long at the two graves and at the flowers I've left on Ranma's.

"You love someone dearly with all your heart," he breathes so low to himself, "and then they're gone from you forever. And all you can do is remember them and nothing more."

"What?"

"Just thinking aloud." He takes off a few bandannas of the infinite number on his head, and indicates Ranma's grave, and the flowers on it. "May I?"

I wonder if I should - but Ryouga is genuinely sorry. I remember the way he acted just after Ranma had died, leaving some bandannas as an offering and his prayer of farewell. I grudgingly step aside and mumble assent.

Ryouga kneels at the edge of Ranma's grave, wrapping the bandannas in a neat package and leaving them beside the flowers. He bows to the grave and I can hear his voice muttering in a low tone but cannot make out any words. I think it's another prayer.

Then, to my amazement, he kneels and bows to my mother's grave. I hear his voice again. He the gets up without leaving anything.

"What was that about, with my mother's grave?"

"I apologised to her for you, for causing your grief and suffering. I must go now." He starts to leave.

"Wait!"

Ryouga turns back to me. "What is it?"

I struggle to get the words out. "Thank you."

He looks confused for a moment, then quickly turns and leaves. I am all alone again in the graveyard, all alone with Ranma.

I kneel again at Ranma's grave.

"Ranma, I'm so sorry for everything. I never told you how much I loved you. I never told you the truth - I was too scared, too proud, too stubborn.

"If only... If only I could have told you. All the time we knew each other. All the things we went through together. Why could I never admit it?

"Every day... every day is so hard. Everywhere I look, I remember you. Every moment, something happens and I remember you, or something you did. Every day I'm reminded that you're gone, that you're dead and will never be back. Every day is so cold and lonely. I wish you were still alive... still here with me...

"I can never forget you. I can't bring myself to say goodbye to you and let it go. I need you with me, even you are a only a memory. Stay with me, Ranma, forever."

And the vague feeling of Ranma being there and then nothing but deathly silence. The everlasting silence of the dead.

(OWARI)

STANDARD THINGS

Send any comments and constructive criticism to:  
s940... .   
If you think the story is really really bad then tell me why. Don't just say "you suck" and leave it at that, I at least want to know how and why.

All the characters and settings in this story are the original creation of Rumiko Takahashi, copyright 1987 - 1995, used here without her permission. Thanks must also go to her for creating the incredibly bizarre Ranma 1/2 world in the first place, giving us all something to remember.

Steven Scougall  
June 1996

\- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -  
Steven Scougall  
(s940... . )

Until our future pathways cross once more...


	3. Chapter 3

Not My fanfic, I found it on an old website. I post it with the author commentary.

DARK.

/  
GOODBYE, RANMA

By Steven Scougall  
September 1996  
/

It's been over a year now, it's been so long, ever since that day, ever since the day my whole life was changed forever. So long since the day my Ranma died, leaving me all alone against all the harsh evils of the world.

I will never forget him, but... I've been moping around too much... I haveto get on with my life... I have to say goodbye, I have to let him go... He's dead, nothing will change that. I have to say good-bye to Ranma...

It's so hard. I'd gotten so used to him being around. I suppose I took him for granted, that he'd always be there, that he'd always win. That if I was in trouble he'd go through hell for me. No matter how many times I would hit him over a small misunderstanding, or insult him, he'd never hold it against me. No matter what he said, all the little things he did - both of us did - told the truth.

And then there was the battle at Phoenix Mountain, where I was 'dehydrated', and almost died myself. I remember coming to in his arms, hearing Ranma's voice, wracked with grief and pain, wishing he'd told me what he never could before. Telling me he loved me. Finally, admitting the truth we already knew.

Perhaps naively, I'd thought all my troubles were finally over. We both knew we loved each other. The road was still rocky, we still found it hard to get along. But things were different, we knew that in the end we'd be together.

And now he's gone and I'll never find another like him.

* * * * *

Sometimes I still feel like finding Ryoga and beating seven shades of hell out of him, until he's too hurt to even blink his eyes, and then just leaving him behind. But then I remember the confused look in his eyes when faced with the body of Ranma and my rage. I remember all the little things he's done, and all the times I've seen him at Ranma's grave.

I've never once seen him wearing his bandannas again, after leaving them for Ranma that day.

But even though all he's done since then - all his sorrow, his grief, his apologies... He still ruined my life. He took away everything I lived for, leaving me an empty shell, with nothing more to live for. Saying sorry will never bring Ranma back. Nothing will bring Ranma back.

The most recent I saw of Ryouga was with Akari, both by Ranma's grave, just a day ago. I'd been heading to Ranma's grave, as I do so often, just to be there, to feel that I'm with him again. I'd seen Ryouga and Akari sitting by Ranma's grave, hands together, both staring solemnly at the gravestone. My gaze dragged itself to their locked, intertwined hands.

I thought of going to see them, perhaps to talk to them, to walk the rest of the way to Ranma's grave. But I'd only been looking at them for a moment before I saw a metallic gleam from their fingers. Their ring fingers. The sight just stopped me dead, unable to do anything, unable to move, their... their engagement rings winking back at me as the sun came out from behind a cloud.

Right there and then I was filled with such an incredible rage, the likes of which I've never felt before. I felt like breaking every bone in Ryoga's body for having everything he'd denied me. It would be so easy, and I'd feel so much better for it...

But... he's found solace, peace perhaps. It's been a long hard road for him too. And he has Akari - a friend of mine, how can I put her through the same trauma I've had? How could I myself destroy her happiness.

Standing there, torn and undecided. Not knowing what to do anymore... And so alone...

Akari looked up and saw me, and said something to Ryouga. He looked up and stared at me for a long moment. In his eyes... I saw something. Apology maybe? Grief? Sadness?

That time, it was me who ran away, unable to hold his stare anymore.

Sometimes I think of suicide. I've thought of it before, but I've always rebelled, it was the fighter in me, it kept me going even though everything was so bleak. But this time... the fighter has lost her spirit, her will to keep going. There are some things that can break anyone and anything.

This time... staring at my face in the mirror, red-eyed, face moistened with tears, the deepest depression I've ever felt, anger with the whole world. Everyone keeps telling me they understand how I feel. In the confines of my own head, I scream, "How could they?"

And worse... years from now, Ranma will be but a few scant fleeting memories. It happened to my mother, I can *remember* swearing *never* to forget her, crying my eyes out... and now, here I am, ten years later, and I can barely remember a *thing* about her. Barely even her face, only an expression, a feeling of comfort...

In ten years, the same for Ranma? I don't want to forget him, but I know I will, I'll be close to thirty and I'll be leading a normal life, married, maybe children, with barely a thought for Ranma. Will I have said goodbye or will I have forgotten that too?

The idea is so repellent... He was... *NO!* He *is* so important to me...

I look at the bottle of aspirin in my hand. Close to full, more than enough for suicide. All I have to do is take them all, and swallow... And then just wait, and hope I'm not found until I'm dead...

Trembling, I tip the bottle and some aspirin slide out, into my other hand, and just stare at the pills there. It would be so easy...

"AKANE! NO!"

I jerk my head around, almost guiltily, as I see Nabiki in doorway, shock all over her face.

"Nabiki... what..."

It is just a moment, then Nabiki is there, in front of me, taking the bottle and the pills from my hand.

"NO! Give them back!"

"Akane, what are you doing? Why this?"

All the resolve I'd built up, the black despair, the deep depression, all the anger at the world, it all loses its focus, and just drains away, leaving me empty again. I hardly notice as I drop to the floor, eyes tearing up again.

"It's Ranma again, isn't it." Not a question, just a flat statement. Nabiki knows the answer already. "Sis, we all know it's hard for you. But you're hanging onto the past, you have to let him go."

"I know..." I say distantly, "but it's so hard... every day... so alone... and he's gone and never coming back..." I start crying again.

She sits down beside me and puts an arm around me. "It tears us all up to see you like this, sis. You've been like this for more than a year now. Please, for yourself, for all of us, let it go."

She gives me a quick hug. "We're here for you. You make sure you're here for us." She holds up the bottle. "Put all ideas of this out of your head."

At the graveyard, again...

This time it's different. I don't sit or kneel at the foot of Ranma's grave. I'm nowhere near it this time, just standing away, leaning on a tree, staring at the grave. To walk towards it, to kneel before it, to speak to the air and feel as if I'm with Ranma again, if for however  
fleetingly...

I could do all that. It would be so easy. Something's stopping me this time.

I can't let him dominate the rest of my waking life, even if I want to. I have to say goodbye to him, I have to let him go.

I hate the idea, but it's what I have to do. It's what I'm here to do.

Determined, I walk over to his grave. I don't bother sitting or kneeling this time, I merely stand there, eyes cast down, hands clasped.

"Ranma..."

I pause, trying to find the right words to say.

"Remember when we first saw each other? Properly, I mean. When I walked in on you in the bath. I hated you on sight. And then I was forcibly engaged to you, someone I hated and didn't even know.

"Then I grew to know you. And there were so many puzzling things I ignored. So many little things you did. There were so many puzzling things I myself did. Before we knew it, we were friends, yet we never said anything to each other... just kept up the same old routine of  
insults and violence... too proud and stubborn to admit to it...

"Ranma, you may have guessed it from all the little things I did and said, but I'll say it now, I loved - still love you. And now you're gone."

I pause, struggling to get the next words out.

"I still want this to be all a big nightmare, to be able to wake up and feel you beside me... I don't want to say good-bye to you... I don't want you to go..."

I sigh. "But you're already gone. Again, I'm being too stubborn to do what's right.

"Ranma, just before you died, you said you were sorry for everything. I'm sorry for all this, that it had to be this way.

"I have to go, and I have to leave you. Goodbye Ranma. I'll never forget you."

And I walk away from his grave, leaving a part of my life behind. It is time to find another way to go, another path to follow.

(OWARI)

Author's Endnotes

Thus ends my "Say Goodbye" series of three fanfics. It was a long long long road to walk, and forced me to exorcise a couple of personal demons myself.

A couple of the prereaders found they didn't like it very much, feeling it was too 'real' (in a way). The very first prereader of "It's Time to Say Goodbye", read through it, and, staring contemplatively at the monitor screen, said "that's so sad..."

Thanks go to quite a lot of people. I'll list the ones I can remember:  
Albert O. Drouart  
Martin Bennett  
Caroline Ann Seawright  
Raphael See, for help with the ending.  
Anybody on the FFML who replied  
Rado Faletic and Heather Roberts, just for being there.

Standard Things

Tell me what you think, and a bit of why you think what you think about it (ie. no messages like "HAHAHAHAHA U SuCk!" with no further explanation.) Writers just *live* to see that little message in the postbox or in their e-mail, telling them *something* about what they've written. It tells them that out there, someone cares enough.

All characters in this story are from the anime and manga series Ranma 1/2, and are copyright Rumiko Takahashi, and some big powerful companies including Shogakukan, and are used here without their permission.

Contacting me... hmmm, what with recent developments, that's the tricky bit. 10006...  is probably the best to try me at. However, it's a shared account, so indicate that the message is to Steven Scougall, at least.

Most of my fanfics can be found at  
. 

Till next our future pathways cross,  
Steven Scougall

( tokyo/2262)


End file.
